Payne. And it is only within the last generation that 

 machinery has completely supplanted the older hand- 

 methods. Indeed, the giant strides toward mechanical 

 perfection and automatic action in bookbinding 

 machinery were not made until the very end of the last 

 century. 



In many ways, perhaps the most interesting period in 

 the history of bookbinding was just before the close of 

 the nineteenth century, when machinery was used for 

 many of the different processes but while there was still 

 a large amount of handwork done in the final process of 

 binding. The method of that time, before the automatic 

 machines robbed the art of every semblance of roman- 

 ticism, was briefly as follows: 



The printed sheets were folded together and made up 

 into volumes which were compressed by passing through 

 rollers placed a certain distance apart. "The volumes 

 are then adjusted and clamped up in the laying- or 

 cutting-press for the operation of sawing the back. Two 

 or three grooves are, in this operation, sawn straight 

 across the back of the volume, according to the number 

 of bands on which the book is to be sewed. Into these 

 grooves the bands are lodged, so that when the sewing 

 of the book is complete, the bands are flush with the rest 

 of the back, instead of projecting out as they did in 

 olden times. A slight cut is made near each end for 

 holding the 'kettle stitch,' or stitch by which the sewer 

 fastens her thread each time she passes up and down. 



"The sewing is done at an apparatus called the sew- 

 ing-press or frame, upon which the number of cords 

 to be employed are fastened at proper distances, in 



